Oie Noo Markys

At this time (as at boaldyn and hop-tu-naa) the border between this world and the next is very thin, and we can glimpse something of a world normally inaccessible to us. Indeed, on Oie Noo Markys (24/25 April) the souls of those who are to die in the coming year will leave their bodies. If you go to the church porch and wait there between 11pm and 1am, and you will see these spirits; those who will be buried there in the graveyard over the coming year.

We went to Old Ballaugh Church to discover something of this and other traditions offering a premonition of death, thanks to Dr. Fenella Bazin RBV.